Pet of the Day

May 21, 2004

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Saby, the Pet of the Day
Name: Saby
Age: One year old
Gender: Male
Kind: Red Lory Parrot
Home: Macomb, Michigan, USA
 
   I have a Red Lory Parrot, his name is Saby - pronounced like tabby. I purchased Saby as a hand-fed baby from a Pet Smart store in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and he lives with me in my home in Macomb, Michigan.

    Saby has been raised around my other animals and has no fear of them. If I leave him loose on his perch or cage and he can hear me in a nother room, he is determined to find me! He waits until my male german shepherd Armanni walks by and he'll jump on his back or head, whichever is closest, and rides him through the house as though he were Saby's personal taxi service! I'll be busy doing something and look up. There is my shepherd with Saby perched on him. Armanni wears this just-get-him-off-me expression on his face!

    I never realized how playful and funny a bird could be until I met Saby. I read somewhere that some lories like to play wrestle, so my husband and I would take our hand and growl real loud and snarl, and grab Saby and pretend to be wrestling with him. He got right into it! Now Saby will puff his feathers up and hiss and will growl and snarl like a little monster and jump on our hand and play-fight. If you have Saby loose on the floor and you tap your fingers or hand on the floor, he will hop in this most comical manner exactly like you tapped your hand. When he hops he'll do it in a big over-exaggerated manner, pause and then hop again.

    Saby isn't a real big talker, but he can say some things, and when he does it is usually quite humorous. One day I yelled at the dog and Saby yelled, "Bad Bird! Bad Birdie!" He didn't know bad dog, but he did know bad bird! He mimics the garbage disposal and the telephone. My husband duck hunts and Saby has taken up mimicking duck calling. I truly believe that birds are a great deal smarter than we give them credit for. He has heard me being called for in the house and he knows how to call out my name. The first time I heard him do it, I couldn't believe it!

    My stepdaughter thought that it would be very amusing to teach the bird to make farting noises and give raspberry kisses, so he does that too. Unfortunately, he sounds very realistic, and the phone is in the same room that he is!

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